A Halloween Trilogy
by Stephy825
Summary: Dan has only one thing in mind for Shun this year's Halloween...and that's to scare the living daylights out of him. Will he be able to succeed before October 31 ends?
1. Costume

**October 29, 2010  
**

**Costume**

"Seriously Shun, you don't know what _Halloween_ is?" the brunette asked with disbelief. The two of them were sitting on a bench in the park and were having a random conversation when the black-haired male realized all the weird decorations on the houses. He asked his younger friend what they were, and was replied with shock. Still, it was true that the boy didn't know at all and really didn't see the point...unless the people who put the accessories there are weirdos who love to scare kids.

Shun shook his head with a neutral expression at Dan's question.

"Man, not even trick or treating?"

"What's that?" Dan face-palmed. "Okay, it is now my mission to teach you about Halloween. Simply put, it's supposed to be the scariest night of your life."

"_Really_?" the raven-haired boy asked; doubting that people would make such a holiday in the first place.

"No, not really. What most kids focus on is the candy." at the mention of the word 'candy', Dan's eyes literally sparkled with glee and delight. "Ooh...this year's going to be _great_!" he muttered while licking his lips. Shun was already freaked out by the sudden change in his friend's nature. Is Halloween that influential to a kid's mind?...and candy consumption?

"Hey Shun, since you don't know Halloween, you probably don't have a costume right?" the brunette asked while cutting through his thoughts. The raven-haired boy was about to mention his grandfather's old ninja outfit, but chose not to bring it up. "Nope...I don't have one."

"Then we're going to get one then!" he exclaimed while pumping his fist in the air. "I already have some money from mom to buy us both costumes for tomorrow." he smirked as he showed him the wad of cash in his pocket and shoved it back in. "Are you ready?"

"For what?" the older boy was then pulled/dragged to the mall not far from where they were. Once in the mall, the brunette quickly brought him in front of...a kid's paradise. "Welcome to the largest toy store in the world Shun! Bask in its glory!" he proclaimed with the biggest grin he could muster. All the other boy could do was gape and stare at the sheer number of things inside the large store. Never before had he seen so much...toys. Plushies, gadgets, cars, dolls, whatever you can think of. Just multiply that by a hundred and that probably won't be enough still to describe it. In one word, it was amazing.

"C'mon Shun! Let's go to the costume section!" he shouted excitedly as he grabbed Shun's wrist again and hauled him along. Soon they were in front of an entire room filled with different garments and stuff. The best thing was…there was discount. And Dan knew how to _'bargain'_ with the adults to get it at an even lower price. Whoever knew Dan knew how to do such a thing?

Shun started to look at each one and tried to see which one would be cool to wear. There was an awesome vampire costume, Frankenstein, cowboy and whatever else. He thought of them as plain though and wanted something that most people wouldn't try. The boy then spotted cool looking general-style clothing that seemed to fit him perfectly. It was mostly green and had blue outlines, yellow marks and seemed to be accompanied by a white turtleneck undershirt. Shun then wanted to find some accessories that would go well with the costume...and settled with a leather brown belt and matching color boots since the outfit looked like a one piece.

Getting it off the rack along with the other stuff he turned to his friend. "Hey Dan, what's your cost-" the boy was surprised that the brunette picked a clothing that looked nearly like his...except the main color were light brown, had red lines instead of yellow and didn't stretch all the way down to the legs...there were pants accompanied with it though. Dan also grabbed a belt and a real-looking sword out of the pile of add-ons and smiled when he saw Shun's pick. "Wow Shun, that somehow really suits you for some reason." he commented while pointing at the outfit.

"Are you sure it's okay for both of us to go like this?"

"'Course! People will think that we're brothers or something!" he beamed. The raven-haired boy smiled at that; it would be pretty cool if they both went in these costumes.

After buying the things they chose and a persuasive argument, they both exited the shop when Dan heard something that quickly piqued his interest. "Sounds like a costume contest..." Shun muttered as he saw the stage with people crowding around it. "Let's enter it!"

"_W-what_?" he shouted while taken aback.

"We already have out costumes Shun! Now's our chance to see if it's really good!"

"Uuh...okay then..." the boy had a bad feeling there was something wrong once they went past the gate. Unfortunately, all the slots have been taken already for the competition. The thing was that one pair wasn't there yet and it was starting in a few minutes. So the clerk said if they weren't able to arrive on time, they can cover for them.

So that's how Dan and Shun ended up changing into their new outfits that fit them nicely and were waiting with the other contestants. The older boy already realized that there was something really off with the contest. None of them looked really scary...in fact; some of them were dressed in school uniforms. Some were people holding huge swords and had a mask on their face. And others looked either plain cute, cool or weird.

Once the MC of the show started speaking though, his worst fears were confirmed almost instantly. "Welcome to 2010's Halloween Anime Cosplay!"

Shun didn't know what was more shocking...that Dan got them wrapped into an Anime Cosplay or the girl that was speaking on stage was an eight-year-old and looked suspiciously like Tomoyo from Cardcaptor Sakura. He had no idea how he knew that either.

The brunette didn't seem to know what an Anime Cosplay was though since he looked so...blissfully ignorant. "That's a weird title for a costume contest." Shun was debating whether to tell him about it or not. He decided not to, but at the same time, he didn't know if these costumes would do anything.

Finally, it was their turn to go on stage and show all the otakus...the raven-haired boy shuddered. But the younger child looked excited anyway.

"And here are our last contestants!" the MC smiled happily as she raises an arm to the red curtain. "Dan Kuso and Shun Kazami!"

Shun closed his eyes and feared the worst when the silence hung on them. Suddenly, one of the judges stood up and squealed. "OMG! That's the cutest Conrad and Gwendal costume I've ever seen! They're just adorable!" she screamed while nearly jumping over the judge's table and running towards the stage if it not for the two other persons with her.

The to-be ninja sweat dropped. They were cosplaying an anime she knew? Really?

-o-

In the end, the both of them didn't win but got a runner-up prize anyway…which happened to be the amount of money Dan 'borrowed' from his mom. The brunette was happy that he can get away with stealing scot free (to Shun's anger) and that they sort-of won their first contest together.

Later on, Shun found out that somehow, the costumes they picked happen to match the outfit of the characters from _Kyou Kara Maoh_...not that he really cared though.

* * *

**A/N : **Yay~anime cosplaying un. XD So I promised the new story and here it is. As the title says (I'm not in a creative mood) there's going to be two more chapters from where that came from. Problem is that you have to wait for the next day...and stuff.

Aww...Shun doesn't know what Halloween is. Oh, and I give points for those who know the anime and squealed at the imagined picture un. XD Please Review~(10/29/10)


	2. Trick or Treat

**October 30**

**Trick-or-Treat**

After the incident with the costumes yesterday, Shun really wanted to rest for the weekend instead of going out. Well, it wasn't bad per se...but the boy preferred to lay low for the meantime.

Once he heard the door slamming open in his house though, he knew that wouldn't be possible. "Hey Shun!" the eight-year-old called out. "Are you in here?" the to-be ninja had to resist the urge to jump down bash his friend on the head for being an idiot. Why did he have to make such a racket? "Yes Dan...what do you want?" he replied while exiting his room.

"We're going trick-or-treating!" that struck the raven-haired male as strange. _Trick...or treating_? Isn't that one of the things the brunette mentioned about Halloween? The child had a sudden bad feeling...

Quickly, Shun went downstairs and met face-to-face with his best friend who was smiling broadly. "Do you have a bucket or plastic bag Shun?" he asked. The older male realized that Dan was carrying said something with him. "I think grandpa has some at the back, but why?"

"To put all the candy in of course!" the brown-haired kid said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "We're going to have a candy collecting contest; you and me. Let's see who can get the most." he smirked. The other boy seemed taken aback though. "I-I don't even know how to do trick-or-treating..." he sputtered.

"It's really easy Shun. You just have to go to different houses and say 'Trick-or-Treat'! Then they'll give you candy!"

"R-really? You can get sweets that easily?" Dan laughed at his friend's shocked expression.

"Mhm...but of course, it's only on Halloween." now the orange-eyed boy didn't have a fondness of treats like that, but he wanted to see for himself about people giving free candy to random children they don't even know. It just sounded too good to be true..._is it_?

"I'll get the bucket."

-o-

He didn't think that Dan would be serious enough to actually make a map of the entire city. But once he saw the large folded piece of paper that the kid pulled out, he was starting to ponder on how the brown-haired kid gives priority to different things. "Okay, we start from here." the brunette pointed at the large dojo-house which was Shun's...the to-be ninja noted at how badly drawn it was for the fun of it. "We make our way from the left and pass by the next couple houses." he used his finger to show a path where they were going to go. The older child still found it funny at how everything was made out of squiggles and scribbles. "We pass through the large mansion-thingy and then make a few rounds here...then since it'll take us about half an hour to pass through all the houses in this block, we may have to cut it so that we can reach the other homes with candy."

Shun wasn't really paying attention to what the kid was babbling about, so he simply nodded and acted amazed at how he planned everything out. Well, he was impressed, but he couldn't help but mentally chuckle at the crayon-drawn buildings. You can't really blame the eight-year-old though...

"So...are you ready? Whoever gets the most candy wins alright?"

"Sure sure...whatever you say Dan."

"Okay! On your marks..." the two quickly got ready and faced opposite directions. "Get set..._go_!" both of them sped off as fast as they could...the brunette somehow being swifter because his first destination was farther than his friend's.

Once the raven-haired boy was in front of the house, it only dawned on him that he didn't know what to do. The child was panicking since he already pressed the doorbell and he heard steps coming to open the door. "Quick...remember what Dan said..."

The door opened to reveal a kind-looking lady that had...red glowing devil horns on her head. Shun gulped, but hid it as soon as he could. "T-trick-or-treat..." he muttered softly as he showed her an orange plastic bucket. The woman smiled at him and got a handful of candy from a nearby bowl and dropped it inside. "Is this your first time child?" she asked. Shun nodded and she beamed in response. "As you can see, it's really easy...as long as you're not scared of the people inside that is." the boy didn't know how to reply to that, but then couldn't anyway since she closed the door already.

The kid looked down and saw the pieces in the container. "Better start collecting then."

-o-

Throughout the night, Shun had collected the most amounts of sweets he ever had before. It felt kind of cool...even if he probably won't eat it anyway. The many adults that were giving them out were nice too and had awesome costumes...for the child, they weren't scary at all. He wasn't fooled by the knife-stabbed-through-the-head accessory and other stuff.

There was something creeping him out though while he was roaming around the neighborhood. The boy felt like he has been stalked endlessly...and even saw flashing eyes every now and then behind the bushes. Instead of freaking out though, he actually went closer to investigate. But as soon as he goes near it whatever or whoever was there scurries away.

He recalled the brunette saying that they were going to meet back at Shun's house to count how much treats they had. Yet once both of them returned, it was clear who the winner was. "Dan...you don't have a single candy in your bucket." he stated.

"Bad night..." the younger boy replied while panting. "Anyway, you win. Are you going to eat the candy?"

"No...you can have it."

"Thanks. See ya Shun." the raven-haired male couldn't help but think that there was something bothering his friend.

The question would be what and why.

-o-

"Grr...I messed up today..." Dan muttered as he headed home. "Not even once did Shun get scared..._man_..."

The boy took out the glowing lights he had from his pocket. "I can't believe he didn't even flinch or anything with this." but then he deviously smiled. "I still have Plan B for tomorrow. This time it's going to work."

He enthusiastically pumped his fist up in the air. "I'm going to scare Shun before Halloween ends no matter what!"

* * *

**A/N : **You could tell that I got really lazy with this chapter...hehehe. Anyway, it's pretty obvious that Dan's up to something. Wonder what it's gonna be? Will he really be able to scare the cool and calm Shun? :O

Stay tune tomorrow to find out! Happy Hallow's Eve everybody!


	3. Haunted House

**October 31**

**Haunted House**

"Mm...morning already?" Shun muttered. He rubbed his eyes and glanced out the window from his bed. Yep, it was already another day...but not just any day either. "It's Halloween."

After getting dressed and eating his breakfast, he went outside and looked around. It was pretty early and he expected that there wouldn't be that much people walking around at this time. Anyhow, after last night, Shun was now pretty sure than Dan had planned something for today too...though he wished that there wasn't. The child felt strangely tired the past few days...

He stretched his arm as he stifled a yawn. "Wonder what he has in store for us today." he mumbled.

The raven-haired boy decided to stroll around for the time being. The air was cool and chilly since it was an October morning...autumn's here and winter's coming soon. He shuddered at the sudden picture of a snowball fight in his head. Knowing the brunette, a war like that would be expected.

After roaming around for some time, he noticed a weird-looking house on the top of a hill. It stood out because of its dark gloomy colors, and the fact that the atmosphere around it was blackish and creepy. Even in the morning, if he was living in that house, it may as well be night time...the place was that shadowy and gray. It sent shivers down his spine just staring at it. "Strange that I don't remember such a house being here in the first place."

Little did he know that he was going to visit that building again...and at the same time, entering it.

-o-

"You...want me to go with you? Where?" the male asked as he held the phone near his ear. He was already back in his house and just took a bath when the machine started ringing.

_"To the Haunted House nearby our house of course!"_ a younger voice replied; definitely Dan's.

"How come?"

_"For fun. What else?"_ he replied.

"When?"

_"Later at eight. That's when it opens. Y'know, I heard that the entire place is managed by two freshmen. Cool huh?"_

"I guess so..."

_"So are you coming?"_

Shun hesitated for a few moments. "...sure. I'll go."

He thought he was imagining it when Dan muttered a 'Yes!' on the phone. _"Thanks Shun! See you at eight then!"_ the line was then disconnected.

The raven-haired boy sighed. "So we're going to spend the night trying to see if we get frightened by a bunch of cheap tricks huh? How fun."

-o-

He didn't think that time would pass this swiftly. It felt like it was just a couple minutes ago that he was talking to his friend on the phone, and now...

"So once we get in, we can't get out until we find the exit?" the older boy asked the brunette. "Yep. And it's free too." he smirked. "C'mon Shun! I can't stand waiting! Let's go in!"

At the sight of the boy quickly running excitedly towards the old wooden door, the raven-haired male face-palmed and followed him. Dan rang the doorbell three times before it opened with a loud _'creeaak'_...

The two glanced at each other for a moment then went inside...which resulted in the door behind them rapidly slamming shut. Both of them flinched, but Shun quickly regained his composure. There was nothing to be terrified about in here...that's what he kept telling himself.

As they made their way through the various cobwebs and rickety panels below them, they can clearly hear footsteps echoing in the house. Whether it was theirs or someone else...Shun wasn't sure. Out of the blue, a vase dropped on the floor; creating a loud, sharp cracking sound. Dan suggested they would go up the stairs and look around. The other child was about to object why the exit would be on the second floor, but he decided to play along nevertheless.

They continued to slowly walk around...and the brunette was already hanging on Shun's arm. "You're scared already?"

"N-not really..." he replied while shaking. The older boy smiled. "There's nothing freaky here Dan-" he was caught off by the sudden scream that came from a room nearby them. Shun instinctively went closer to take a better look. When he turned the knob and opened the door though, he was shocked that there wasn't a single soul in there. It was impossible that he just imagined it..."N-nobody...where did that scream come from?" the red-eyed boy muttered; his voice quivering.

"I don't know...it may have come from another room in the house."

The air around them suddenly grew chilly and cold. The to-be ninja thought of an open window, but at the end of the dark and spooky hallway was nothing but a dead-end. Was it just them?

More steps echoed in the house. This time, it was easy to tell that they were running away. A loud wail then came out, making the two boys cringe in fear. The howl wasn't human...it sounded _hollow_...or something of the sort. Shun didn't know how to describe it, all that he thought of was finding the way out. "Calm down...this is supposed to be all made-up. Why am I trembling?" he thought.

Dan started to take a few steps ahead when for some reason he tripped and fell on the carpeted ground. The raven-haired boy was about to go to him when he realized what he actually fell over. "_D-dan_..." he resisted to urge to scream in horror and kept it to himself. "Don't look. Let's search for another route."

The brunette almost asked why until he noticed the arm coated in blood that was sticking out. He quickly froze in place, but at the sound of Shun's voice, he slowly stood up and stuck closer to him.

Shun hated to admit it, but this was starting to get really frightening. So far, everything looked like a regular old house...what he meant was that there wasn't an exit anywhere. They would both have to go back down and look around. From what he remembered, the kitchen normally leads to a back-door. That should be their ticket out of here.

The pair went down the fragile staircase when the worst thing happened...the floor boards gave way and they both fell in. Somehow, their landing wasn't painful at all...the only thing was the dust that erupted from the fall. It looked like whoever designed this house planned this part as well. Does that mean that they were going the right path?

Shun told his friend that they might be in some sort of cavern area. The place was lit with medieval-styled torches and the walls were made out of white marble. Well, it used to be clear white...now they were covered with moss, cracks, and the eerie orange red glows from the fire surrounding them. Worse, the floor they were stepping on was damp as well; making their shoes wet and sticky.

After walking for what seemed like hours, Dan finally spotted a spiral stairway...and there was light coming from the top. Unfortunately when they climbed up, they were still in the house...just in another part of it. The building didn't seem that huge when they entered...odd.

The two boys were faced with three doors...three choices. There was an even an engraving on the wall that was related to this little 'Haunted House' attraction.

_There are three ways you can choose from. One contains the exit._

_Decide another, and you will be sent back to the start...having to go through this all over again._

_Think carefully and choose wisely. Whoever shows difference may be right._

_Good luck -Ren_

"Doesn't Ren mean _ghost_..?" Dan muttered in fear. Shun wasn't listening to his friend; instead he was focusing on the last line of the message. Whoever shows difference may be right.

"Hey Dan, come take a look at this." he gestured the brunette to come forward. When he did, he gasped at the numerous symbols carved on the slab doors.

The first one showed a large bird that resembled a kind of phoenix...under it was flames, a barren wasteland and three monsters that looked like they were with the bird. That made Dan shudder.

The second one pictured a dark figure that seemed...ghostly. It just stood there; alone. Plus, the eyes seemed to be staring right at them.

The last one showed three creatures and one big monster at the top; the leader (Shun guessed) was facing a large sphere that looked almost like the Earth. Other than that, there wasn't much going on...

"Shun...what should we do?"

The raven-haired boy kept on examining the three different illustrations shown. He wondered...the most obvious answer would be the lone ghost in the middle. But there was something bothering him...like there was more to this than met the eye. "I think we should go to the second one Shun." Dan stated.

"Wait...we can't make hasty decisions here." he murmured while grabbing his shoulder. "These symbols are the only way for us to know. We probably can't take second chances...and I know both you and I don't want to go through everything again." the brunette was about to respond, but then he simply nodded. "Okay, so what's your take on this?"

"I think the first one pertains to _destruction_...the second one can refer to _death_."

"What about the third?"

_Whoever shows difference may be right._

"That's it...Dan, it's the third. It has to be."

"Mind explaining it?"

"I'll tell you when we get out of here." he responded quickly. "Now help me push!" the younger boy nodded and began to shove as hard as they could on the marble door. It was heavy, but at some point it budged, and then gave way. What the two boys faced was a dark corridor. "Shun...please tell me you're sure about this."

"I'm not, but might as well get this over with."

The duo made their way through the narrow hall as fast as they could. It was hard to see where the end was, but they soon reached it. The thing was...the end happened to be a large fissure.

Dan would have fallen in to the seemingly bottomless pit if it not for Shun grabbing his wrist. The raven-haired boy didn't have that much strength though and also realized the chasm too late. Now the both of them were dangling for their lives...and Shun was starting to lose his grip. "U-ugh..."

The brunette was beginning to struggle as he tried to touch the cliff side. "Dan, stop moving..!"

"You're not going to last long with the current situation Shun..." he muttered.

"W-what are you talking about?" he questioned as his fingers gradually lost their grip.

"Sorry Shun." out of the blue, Dan let go of the boy's hand. "Wait..! _Dan_!"

His grasp loosened quickly, and before he knew it, the younger boy fell into the darkness...

It took Shun a few moments before a small tear slid down his cheek. "No...Dan...Dan! DAN!"

"Hey Shun!" a voice suddenly replied. "Come down here! The place is covered in pillows!" the raven-haired boy thought he was going crazy, but then decided to trust what the voice said and released his hold. True enough, he landed on something soft and fluffy. "What the heck?"

"I found the exit Shun! It's over here!" the brunette shouted again. In pitch black it was hard to tell, but he soon saw a faint sign that read _'Exit'_. He crawled through the cushions and soon enough, found himself staring at the moon on the sky. The boy couldn't help but blink and stare at it before going back to the road and brushed off the dust on his clothes.

"That was a cool experience huh?" Shun turned and saw his friend in one piece...and smiling. He walked towards him and...hit him on the head. "_Ouch_! What did you do that for Shun?"

"For risking your life to save me."

"H-huh..?"

"We were just lucky that there was something down there...what if there wasn't? Would you still have let go?" the brunette stared at him before chuckling. "Yeah, of course! You are my best friend after all!"

"...you idiot." he muttered, which made the younger child look at him with concern. "If you ever die because of me, I'll never...I'll never forgive myself. If ever we are faced with that again, don't let go. At all costs. Understand?"

Dan beamed. "Whatever you say Shun."

Inwardly, he was celebrating to himself. "Mission complete! I was able to scare Shun!...though Yuki-senpai and his brother went overboard with this one..." he thought.

* * *

**A/N : **And that's it! So Dan was able to scare Shun after all!...sort of. And awww...Shun really cares about Dan's safety. XD So cute~ Though, I never really had any experienced in typing a scary story...so sorry if that part was pretty bad.

Anyway, thanks to all who reviewed and read. Seriously, thanks. Please Review! And Happy Halloween!

* * *

"Ren-kun...did you really have to make them fall..?" the fourteen-year-old teen asked. The two were standing on the roof of the house and were watching the two young boys walking away.

"Put it this way, it's like a test of relationships between two people."

"...sometimes I don't understand what goes through your mind Ren-kun."

"He said to be creative right Nii-san?"

"Creative...yes. Placing them in a life-or-death situation isn't creative."

"Oh." Ren deadpanned. "Really?" Yuki face-palmed. Next year, he was going to handle the design of the haunted house.


End file.
